In order to measure their performance in a quantifiable manner, athletes will often measure various time parameters corresponding to their travel over a distance. For example, a runner may measure the total elapsed time required to run a distance, the elapsed time required to run a segment of the distance, and/or the average time required to run equal segments of the distance. Likewise, cyclists, ice skaters, sailors, hikers, swimmers, skiers, and other athletes may desire to measure the total elapsed time required to run a distance, the elapsed time required to run a segment of the distance, and/or the average time required to run equal segments of the distance.
To address the needs of such athletes, some watchmakers manufacture watches that include a chronograph. A chronograph measures and records time periods, and thus permits an athlete to measure the total amount of time elapsed while traveling a desired distance. An athlete can start the chronograph counting when he or she begins traveling the distance, and stop the chronograph counting when he or she has completed traveling the distance. The time counted on the chronograph is the total amount of time that elapsed while the distance was traveled.
Some watches include chronographs that also allow a user to measure individual subsets of the overall time period without stopping or resetting the count. These time segments are sometimes referred to as “split” times. Thus, chronographs that measure split times allow a runner to additionally record the amount of time that has elapsed at any point during the run. For example, a runner may want to measure the total time he or she takes to run four laps around a track. If a runner also measures a split time at the completion of each lap, the first split time will be the total time required to run the first lap, the second split time will be the total time required to run both the first lap and the second lap, and the third split time will be the total time required to run all of the first three laps.
Still further, some watches include a second chronograph that allows a user to initiate one or more additional counts without resetting the count of the primary chronograph. Using this feature with the above example, a runner can measure the time elapsed to run around any single lap without resetting the count for the total elapsed time required to complete all four laps. With some watches, the second chronograph is configured to reset when the runner measures a split time with the primary chronograph. This allows a runner to conveniently measure the time difference between one split time and its subsequent split time. These individual time measurements are sometimes referred to as “lap” times.
Another particularly useful time parameter many athletes measure is the pace or speed at which they travel a selected distance. Measuring a pace allows an athlete to accurately determine whether or not he or she is traveling faster or slower than a desired speed. A runner may wish to have this information in order to, for example, determine whether his or her current pace will allow him or her to be competitive in a race, burn a desired number of calories for a run of a set time, or be able to complete a run in an allotted time. Unfortunately, however, even watches with chronographs do not allow an athlete to easily measure the pace of travel over a particular distance. Instead, a user must manually calculate the pace using the total elapsed time of travel provided by the chronograph. In order to immediately determine a pace, an athlete must either carry a calculator or pen and paper to make the calculation, which is cumbersome. Alternately, the athlete must record the total elapsed time counted by the chronograph, and calculate the pace later. Accordingly, it would be desirable to allow an athlete to conveniently calculate a pace immediately after traveling a distance.